Despinoy, Hyacinthe-François-Joseph

b. 22 May 1764, Valenciennes

d. 29 December 1848, Paris

"A gentleman cadet in the infantry regiment of Barrois (91st) on 18 July 1780. Second lieutenant on 10 July 1784; lieutenant on 15 September 1791; captain of grenadiers on 22 May 1792; provisional adjutant-general chef de bataillon (appointed by the Representatives Baille, Beauvais, and Barras) on 22 Jun 1793; severely wounded at Toulon on 17 December 1793; provisional general of brigade (appointed by the Representatives Ricord, Fréron, Saliceti and Barras) on 20 Decmeber 1793; confirmed in this rank on 14 November 1794; wounded at Puycerda on 26 July 1795; general of division on 10 June 1796; placed in non-activity on 19 October 1796; commander at Perpignan on 20 November 1801; at Alessandria from 27 January 1802 to May 1814; at Strasbourg from 11 Decmber 1814 to 26 March 1815; retired on 9 September 1815; kept at Strasbourg on 13 September 1815. Commander of the 1st Military Division at Paris from 12 October 1815 to 20 January 1819; commander of the 20th Military Division on 27 January 1821; commander of the 12th Military Division at Nantes on 7 March 1821; retired on 20 August 1830 (dated from 1 September). Died in Paris, 5, rue du Regard ...

General Despinoy had been created Count on 2 March 1816. He was tall: 5 pieds 8 pouces 6 lignes [1m 85.4cm, or 6ft 1in (English measure)]. Despinoy asserted that he had been one of Bonaparte's intimates: he later quarrelled with him, and was kept on the sidelines. He revenged himself for this during the Restoration, and acquired a sad renown as a violent persecutor of his former comrades. Member of the Legion of Honour on 11 December 1803, Commander on 14 June 1804, he only became a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour on 17 August 1822. He was, moreover, a Commander of St Louis from 3 May 1816." Bouvier, F. Bonaparte en Italie, 1796, Paris, 1899, p. 655.

This spelling as used in Balteau, J. and others. Dictionnaire de biographie française, Paris, 1933-. Despinoy published a poem in imitation of Ossian in 1801. As commander of Paris in 1815 he was responsible for the details of the execution of Marshal Ney.